Washington Irving: The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Other Stories Reviewed By John J. Hohn of Bookpleasures.com

John J. Hohn

Reviewer John J. Hohn:
John is a frequent contributor to web sites dedicated to writing and
publishing. Raised in Yankton, SD, he graduated with a degree in
English from St. John’s University (MN) in 1961. He is the father
of four sons and a daughter and a stepfather to a son. He and his
wife divide their time each year between Southport and West
Jefferson, NC. To learn more about John FOLLOW HERE

Penguin Books is promoting
the paperback version of the classic, Washington Irving: The Legend
of Sleep Hollow and Other Stories intimating during this Halloween
season that it could be almost companion piece to the currently
popular animated television program Sleepy Hollow appearing currently
on FOX network stations. Hopefully, that doesn’t present anyone
with a problem. Any ploy that calls readers to consider one the
America’s greatest literary treasures can be justified by the ends
it seeks. Make no mistake, however, the Penguin Classic is more at
home in a graduate student’s backpack than on a bedside table as a
volume to read to the kiddies as they tumble off to sleep. For anyone
inclined to look, this nifty little paperback contains no
illustrations. The formatting is exquisite but the smaller font size
would strike the casual reader as formidable, creating a very serious
impression indeed.

The notes by scholar
Elizabeth L. Bradley make the case that Irving as an author has been
somewhat abused by popular media and academics alike. Bradley insists
that Irving’s true place in American literary history is neither to
“. . . put him in the exalted league with James Fennimore Cooper
and William Cullen Bryant . . .Nor does it improve matters to insist
that every American has absorbed Irvin’s stories like plants do
sunlight – through their depiction in television shows, movies and
even video games.” Irving, revered as he is, occupies a middle rank
of unique and monumental standing. Scholars may see him as the first
American author to achieve international recognition, a feat all the
more impressive because he is neither novelist nor poet. Contemporary
indie writers can take heart because he began at his own risk with a
publisher “. . . unknown to fame.” The average reader,
regrettably, will identify Irving with the iconic, if not comic,
Ichabod Crane and the Headless Horseman.

The scholars can have
their day. The average reader’s interests might have been served
with a little less academic approach than Professor Bradley presents.
If the effort is to popularize an author, perhaps a more down to
earth vocabulary would be more effective. It’s hardly middle school
fare to come across a sentence like:

“The Sketch Book was
published serially from 1819 to 1820, but the collection still serves
as a handy metonym for his entire oeuvre.”

(Sent this reader
scrambling through two dictionaries, but then I don’t have a
graduate degree.) There’s nothing wrong with expanding one’s
horizons. But it is important for promoters to know their target
market. What’ll it be? The campus or daycare? Looks like Penguin is
trying to keep the book in both places. The solution may well be that
readers are best advised to read the entire text of Irving’s
writings before undertaking Bradley’s introduction. The allusions
to the various Sketches otherwise carry very little meaning.

But for the meat of the
book – Irving himself. In a word, delightful. The writer’s easy
prose, so flowing, so relaxed, is a joy to read. Readers feel the man
holding the pen. There is almost a fragrance exuding from his
compositions. The description of Ichabod himself reads:

He was tall, but
exceedingly lank, narrow shoulders, long arms and legs, hands that
dangled a mile out of his sleeves, feet that might have served for
shovels

. . . To see him striding
along the profile of a hill on a windy day, with his clothes bagging
and fluttering about him, one might have mistaken him for the genius
of famine descending upon the earth . …”

There’s a picture a
five-year-old can draw into mind and yet be intrigued by a word or
two yet beyond a preschool vocabulary.

Any effort to perpetuate
Irving’s stature as a pioneer American man-of-letters deserves
applause. This Penguin Classic handsomely serves in the role. Most of
the Sketches are for dedicated seasoned readers. Irving is not served
by putting him and his works on the same plane as Rudolph the Red
Nose Reindeer or Frosty the Snowman. As an author, he has too much to
say about his times, human nature, and the enduring questions that
life presents to men of every age. Readers should not expect to find
arcane language and grammatical construction. Irving is as readable
today and every bit as entertaining as he was at the time he wrote.
This little book is a beautiful collection and tribute to his genius.